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OTTAWA—An indigenous judge, an athlete, an educator and even a provincial New Democrat cabinet minister are among the seven Canadians that Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked to join the Senate.

“(They) will help advance the important objective to transform the Senate into a less partisan and more independent institution that can perform its fundamental roles in the legislative process more effectively — including the representation of regional and minority interests — by removing the element of partisanship, and ensuring that the interests of Canadians are placed before political allegiances,” Trudeau said Friday in a news release.

The seven senators, who all agreed to sit as Independents and will not join the Liberal caucus of MPs, were selected from a list of 25 names delivered to Trudeau by an independent advisory board that is overseeing a new, non-partisan appointments process that was designed to be non-partisan.

The Conservatives, however, were quick to express their doubts.

“All of them are worthy members of Canadian society, who can serve adequately the Senate of Canada. The only exception I take is to this charade that Trudeau is parading around, pretending that somehow they are not partisan, Liberal appointments made by a Liberal prime minister,” said Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, chair of the Senate standing committee on internal economy, budgets and administration.

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The individuals Trudeau is recommending to Governor General David Johnston, who does the actual appointing, includes Peter Harder, a career federal public servant who headed up the transition team that prepared the Trudeau government to take power.

Harder will represent Ontario.

Harder will be “styled” as a non-partisan government “representative” who will facilitate the introduction of government legislation in the upper chamber, but he will officially be government leader in the Senate because that is what the Parliament of Canada Act and Senate rules and procedures require.

“We hope it is a temporary circumstance,” government House leader Dominic LeBlanc said in an interview Friday of this semantic situation.

LeBlanc has asked the Senate leadership to come up with suggested amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act, and its own rules and procedures, “to better reflect a more independent and less partisan government leadership in the Senate.”

LeBlanc said he expects Harder, who will be sworn in as a privy councillor, to frequently attend meetings of the cabinet committee on legislation and parliamentary affairs.

LeBlanc also brushed aside suggestions that the role he played on the transition team is a sign of Liberal bias, saying Trudeau brought him on board for his deep knowledge of the senior public service and machinery of government.

“A transition exercise is different than an election campaign . . . . His experience and his resumé and his integrity is so compelling that people who somehow find partisan context to this are, I think, being dishonest and they’re not understanding Peter Harder’s impressive record of public service in a non-partisan way,” said LeBlanc.

In an interview Friday, Harder said he would not have agreed to join the Senate had he been asked to sit as a Liberal.

“I think it would be inconsistent with the efforts to modernize the Senate, to take partisanship out, to have the Senate focused on the issues and interests to Canadians and to represent the regions and the professional diversity that they come to the Senate with,” said Harder, who once worked as a political staffer for Joe Clark when he was leader of the Progressive Conservatives in the 1970s.

Asked what he would do if the Trudeau government introduced legislation he disagreed with, however, Harder suggested he did not expect that to happen— although noted it was a hypothetical question.

“Let’s see what the future brings. I don’t foresee this government bringing forward legislation consistent with its platform with which I would have a difficulty,” said Harder.

V. Peter Harder, Ontario

Harder spent 29 years in the federal public service, including as a deputy minister in priority departments such as foreign affairs, justice, public safety and the treasury board. He also served as the Sherpa to three G8 Summits, is an expert on Canada-China relations and is active in his community.

Harder also headed up the Trudeau government’s transition team.

Frances Lankin, Ontario

A former Ontario cabinet minister in the NDP government of Bob Rae, Lankin also spent more than a decade as the CEO of United Way Toronto.

She has served on the Security Intelligence Review Committee and is currently chair of the National NewsMedia Council, on the board for Hydro One, and chairs the Social Responsibility Committee for the OLG.

Ratna Omidvar, Ontario

Born in India, Omidvar is the chair of Lifeline Syria, which has been helping to co-ordinate refugee sponsorship efforts in the Greater Toronto Area.

She is founding executive director and adjunct professor of the Global Diversity and Migration Exchange at the Ted Rogers School of Management, at Ryerson University, a director of the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH) and was executive director and president of Maytree from 1998 to 2014.

Raymonde Gagné, Manitoba

A long-time educator that included time as a high school teacher and principal, Gagné was president of Université Saint-Boniface (USB) from 2003-2014.

In that role, she oversaw its change in status from college to university and led an $18-million fundraising campaign to build a new health sciences building, increase the scholarship and bursary program and expand its capacity to do research.

Justice Murray Sinclair, Manitoba

As chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the dark history and ongoing legacy of the Indian residential school system, he traveled the country to listen to the stories of survivors and witnesses and then issue its final report last year.

Sinclair, who was the first aboriginal judge appointed in Manitoba and only the second in Canada, co-chaired the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Manitoba.

Chantal Petitclerc, Quebec

Petitclerc, who lost the use of her legs in an accident when she was 13, is an athlete who won gold medals in the Paralympics and the Commonwealth Games, as well in the 800-metre event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when wheelchair racing was an exhibition sport.

Petitclerc was appointed as Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the Rio Paralympic Games this September.

André Pratte, Quebec

The former chief editorialist for Montreal newspaper La Presse, Pratte has been a journalist for 37 years, covering Canadian politics for most of his career, including three years in the parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa.

Pratte has a degree in political science and is known for his strong positions in favour of federalism.

Correction: March 21, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated Ratna Omidvar's birthplace. She was born in India, not Iran.

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